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Starbucks

The Charlestown Patriot-Bridge surveys the populace about the impending arrival of the neighborhood's first Seattle-based coffeehouse. While some can't wait, others worry about the chainification of the neighborhood. Peer pressure is being applied:

Some of my friends made fun of me for liking Starbucks. The Town is changing though. We have a T-Mobile store here now and a Whole Foods. Things are changing and I say go with the flow.

Proponents and opponents of a proposed Starbucks at L Street and Broadway are painting the now empty space in Michael Norton's building as the cornerstone of the neighborhood's future.

At a Boston Licensing Board hearing this morning, though, they described very different futures for City Point, the part of South Boston that has yet to see the tsunami of development and chains that has overtaken the neighborhood west of Dorchester Street. Read more.

I just deleted a post saying the licensing board didn't have an Aug. 17 hearing scheduled for the controversial Starbucks at L and Broadway in South Boston. At the time I wrote that, that was accurate - I asked board Chairwoman Christine Pulgini and she looked at the board schedule and nope, no hearing was set. Maybe 30 minutes after that, Starbucks submitted a request for a re-hearing on the board's May denial of a license on Aug. 17, and Pulgini granted the request. So it's on.

NECN reports the Boston Licensing Board this morning set the border of Starbucks Nation at Dorchester Street when it sided with residents - and the mayor - and rejected a food-serving license for a Starbucks at L Street and East Broadway. Read more.

Mayor Walsh, city councilors Michael Flaherty and Michelle Wu and state Sen. Linda Dorcena Forry this morning backed residents opposed to a Starbucks at L Street and East Broadway, saying there are already enough coffee options in the area, that a Starbucks would exacerbate morning traffic woes at the intersection and would help to eat away at the family-oriented, mom-and-pop nature of the commercial district east of Perkins Square. Read more.

A community meeting tonight on a Starbucks proposed for L Street and Broadway repeatedly veered towards Parks and Rec style chaos as residents battled each other on issues that often had little to directly do with the coffeehouse - such as which local restaurants drove other local restaurants out of business. Read more.

Eileen Murphy reports on the newest addition to what's becoming South Boston's Caffeine Corner: A Starbucks, for which renovation is now underway at L Street and East Broadway, opening where developer Michael Norton once proposed a restaurant.

Starbucks joining DD, Cumbies, & Boston Bagel on L St.

There's already a Starbucks near Broadway station and, of course, on the South Boston waterfront.

A correspondent reports she saw a guy steal the tip jar at the Starbucks at 30 Rowes Wharft around 4:10 p.m. today - despite the best efforts of a barista and a single customer to stop him.

"I feel bad for the working staff, they're not rich," she said, adding she's also upset that while women in the shop called 911, "lots of men in there were buying coffee and they didn't even block the door nor tried to help."

The owners of the Fan Pier development said today they'll be leasing space to a Starbucks, a Mediterranean meze restaurant and a daycare center.

The Starbucks, which will take 2,100 square feet, will join existing starbucks at the Manulife Financial building, the Renaissance Harbor Hotel and the Westin Boston Harborfront. It's slated to open this summer, according to the Fallon Company, which is building out Fan Pier as a mixed-use complex.